Tag: Good Friday

Expressing sadness that Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam signed the Reproductive Health Protection Act, which was passed by the state’s Senate and House of Delegates, Bishops Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington and Barry C. Knestout of Richmond criticized him for the day he chose to sign it into law.

Even though Brigid Hadzima uses liturgical living to teach her children, ages 1 to 11, “I still love these things and I’m 34 years old,” she said. “It’s still a grounding for me. It’s a link to the past. It’s a link to my mom, to my grandma. And ultimately, it’s a link to our faith. It’s something I can see, touch, hear, and reminds me of what we’re about, where our heavenly home is, where our home is ultimately.”

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has invited U.S. Catholics to join him on Good Friday, April 10, to pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart at 11 a.m. (CST).

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christians” is the famous quote of Tertullian, a second century Father of the Church from North Africa. This sentiment has always served as a source of hope for Christians that death would bring forth new life for the Church.

We are called in this Lenten season to grow in our faith and to be in the shadow of the cross, overcome neither by its threat of death nor the fear it intends to evoke. As people who stand firmly in the face of such intimidation, we know death is vanquished by the power of Jesus’ sacrifice. Easter Sunday must be preceded by the horrors of Good Friday, and as my mother-in-law always said, “There can be no Easter Sunday without Good Friday.” In her wisdom, she meant there will be difficult, and perhaps discouraging, times for all of us as we move through the phases of our lives.

During this time when Pope Francis and the bishops of the Church seek reparation, reconciliation, and healing within the victim and survivor communities of those sexually abused by priests, we humbly recognize that this reparation, reconciliation and healing are needed in our parish communities as well.